BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man was arrested recently after allegedly delivering fentanyl to a woman who suffered an overdose in the Walmart parking lot.
Jacob D. Anthony, 29, of Buckhannon, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 19, for delivery of a controlled substance, fentanyl, and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, fentanyl, both felonies.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Sgt. Marshall O’Connor with the Mountain Region Drug Task Force, at about 3:45 p.m. Oct. 19, Buckhannon Police Department officers responded to the Walmart parking lot in reference to an overdose call.
Police found a female who appeared to be experiencing severe side effects of a controlled substance O’Connor believed to be fentanyl. The female was sitting in the driver’s seat of a brown SUV while a male, later identified as Anthony, was “kneeling in the passenger seat,” according to the report.
The female allegedly admitted to police that she had smoked fentanyl with a straw and handed over the straw. When officers searched the woman, they recovered only one piece of aluminum foil and one empty blue-colored “heroin/fentanyl stamp with the marking ‘blue max,’” according to the report.
“A search of her vehicle was conducted and nothing else was located … not even a torch to light the fentanyl,” O’Connor detailed in the complaint.
When questioned about his relationship with the female, Anthony told police he was her boyfriend and “was just there to see her on her break,” the file says. The file also indicates that Anthony called 911 regarding the female’s overdose.
Police searched Anthony’s person, which allegedly led them to recover “a large amount of cash” in his wallet in his back-left jeans pocket and a torch inside his left front pocket.
At that point, a witness informed police that they had seen Anthony walking between two vehicles – the brown SUV in which the female was found, and a white BMW registered in Anthony’s name.
Anthony initially informed O’Connor nothing was inside his vehicle but consented to a search. Sgt. William Courtney and K-9 Officer Erros with the BPD conducted a “free air sniff” of the BMW’s exterior, with Officer Erros giving a positive indication for the presence of controlled substances.
While searching Anthony’s white BMW, police allegedly found $57 in the console; several small black rubber bands commonly used to wrap heroin/fentanyl “buns” on the driver’s seat and inside the driver’s door; and another blue heroin/fentanyl stamp marked “blue max,” according to the police report.
O’Connor subsequently searched Anthony’s person and allegedly discovered a rectangular-shaped foreign object concealed between his left leg and crotch, the complaint states. When O’Connor ordered Anthony to hand the object over, Anthony pulled out an Altoids container and allegedly appeared to dump something out of it before giving it to police officers.
“I then gave him the option to give me the controlled substances at the police department or face another charge for bringing controlled substances into jail,” O’Connor recounted in the report.
Once they arrived at the police department, Anthony allegedly turned over approximately 58 heroin stamps marked “blue max” that he had reportedly dumped out of the Altoids container, the file says.
“[Anthony] also turned over a Rogue Lozenges container which contained approximately 42 blue heroin/fentanyl stamps that were marked with the ‘ST’ stamp,” O’Connor wrote. “Based upon the above facts, my training and experience, it is believed that [Anthony] did deliver to [the female] and also possessed with the intent to deliver to additional people.”
Upshur County Magistrate Mark Davis set bail at $50,000 cash only.
The penalty for a conviction of both possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and delivery of fentanyl is imprisonment in a state penitentiary for one to 15 years, a fine of up to $25,000 or both.
